OTOCORYS 379 



Frequents like other Larks open places, stubble fields and 

 fallow land, where in winter it roams about in flocks, feeding on 

 grain and seeds, and is also, often met with on the sea coast and 

 is tame and tolerably easy of approach. It breeds in the north 

 of Europe, Asia, and America ; in Scandinavia on the fells, and 

 in Finmark even on the seashore, nidification commencing in 

 May, and two broods are generally reared in the season. Its 

 call-note is beautiful, like the sound of a bell, and it is 

 an excellent songster, its song somewhat resembling that of 

 the Skylark, and is uttered when the bird is on the wing, but 

 also when it is perched on a stone or on the ground. The nest, 

 which is placed on the ground, is constructed of grass-bents and 

 plant-stems lined with plant cotton or reindeer hair, and the 

 eggs, 4 or 5 in number, are yellowish grey spotted with wood- 

 brown surface-markings and a few indistinct grey shell-blotches, 

 and occasionally with a few blackish lines. In size they 

 average about 0'88 by 0'61. 



543. ELWES'S SHORE-LARK. 

 OTOCORYS ELWESI. 



Otocorys elwesi, Blanf. J.A.S. Beng. xii. pt. ii. p. 62 (1872) ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. Br. Mus. xiii. p. 534 ; Gates, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, ii. p. 321 ; 

 0. penicillata (nee. Gould), Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 431 ; 0. nigri- 

 frons, Prjev. Mongol i Strana Tangut. ii. p. 103 (1876) ; 0. 

 teleschowi, id. Ibis, 1887, p. 416 ; " 0. sibirica, Eversm.," David and 

 Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 316. 



<$ ad. (Turkestan). Resembles 0. penicillata in general plumage, 

 differing in having the black on the throat separated from that on the ear- 

 coverts by a white band ; bill black above, pale at the base below ; legs 

 black, soles yellowish ; iris brown. Culmen 0'63, wing 4 - 65, tail 3'5, 

 tarsus 0'85 inch. 



Hob. Turkestan, eastward to Mongolia and Northern China ; 

 Sikhim and the eastern Himalayas to Tibet. 



Inhabits the mountain ranges, and is often to be met with at 

 high altitudes. In general habits it does not appear to differ 

 from 0. penicillata, and its mode of nidification, nest, and eggs 

 resemble those of that species. 



544. SUBSP. OTOCORYS LONGIROSTRIS. 



Otocorys longirostris, Moore, P.Z.S. 1855, p. 215, pi. 3 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. 

 Br. Mus. xiii. p. 536 ; Gates, F. Brit. Ind, Birds, ii. p. 320. 



